Writing About Literature

Writing about literature is different from most essays that are assigned and written in English 1101. For one thing, the focus of the paper is on the analysis of the story, poem or play that has been assigned. Therefore, it is written in third person; there should be no first ("I") or second person ("you"). There are other important differences outlined below.

CONTENT

1. Always mention the title and author of the work(s) you are discussing early in your essay. Titles of books should be underlined or italicized; stories should be in quotation marks.

2. Mention characters' names whenever possible. Be specific about character identification; that is, when you first refer to a character, add a simple appositive phrase to identify him or her. It does not have to be long nor interrupt the “flow” of your writing. Example:

In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” Kiowa, a soldier from Oklahoma, carries the New Testament and a hatchet, each representative of his mixed heritage.

3. Use illustrations, examples, and explanations to prove your assertions. Stick closely to the text of the work you are discussing. Read carefully and closely. Don't hesitate to quote briefly from the primary source for illustration -- a well-chosen quote can help to illustrate your point. However, be sure to use the quote as illustration -- not as the text of your essay.

4. Clearly state the central idea or thesis of your essay in the introduction. Be sure your essay has a thesis. Do NOT state your thesis by using writer-based phrases such as: The two poems I have chosen to write about are.... Rather, focus directly on your point: The snake is a potent symbol, often invoking fear, in Western mythology. Both Emily Dickinson and D. H. Lawrence invoke that fear in their poems, but with very different results.

5. Look up the definition of any word that you are not totally familiar with. Try to find the source of and understand any literary or historical allusion that the author uses.

6. Underline key passages, even key words, in the work you are studying, particularly those passages that have reference to your thesis. Be sure that any time you quote form an author's work, you quote exactly -- word for word and comma for comma.

7. In an essay about literature, it is most important to try to show your understanding of the work. Concentrate on writing a unified essay around a central thesis. Avoid going off on tangents. Stick to your main idea, develop it, prove it, deepen it by showing implications of your idea. Use class discussion as a springboard, but do not hesitate to go more deeply into the analysis. You may have been hesitant to speak in class, but do not be hesitant to incorporate your own thoughts and ideas into the paper.

8. Don't confuse the author with the narrator of the story or the voice of the poem.

WRITING CONVENTIONS – or How to write correctly about literature:

 Double space all work, unless otherwise directed. Use a 12 point, non-italic, common font such as Times New Roman, Garamond, Courier, or Comic Sans. Center your title. Follow MLA Guidelines for essay set-up.

 Titles of most long works, books, plays, newspapers, and magazines are italicized or underlined. Titles of poems, short stories, songs, articles, and titles that are parts of longer works are put inside "quotation marks." (EXCEPTION: the title of your own work should be neither underlined nor quoted).

 When you first refer to authors, use their full names; afterwards refer to them by last names.

 Use present tense verbs when writing about literature and maintain verb consistency.

 Avoid using 2nd person “you.” In academic essays write in the 3rd person unless the assignment calls for 1st person.

 Incorporate quoted material into your writing in one of 3 ways: (1) Interweave it into your own words: Poe’s use of the words “dark, “ ”dreary,” and “weary” suggests a somber mood (lines 11-13). (2) Introduce it with a “tag phrase” and comma: As Creon says, “The ship of state is safe” (I.8). (3) Introduce it with an explanatory sentence and colon: At the beginning of the play, Creon is concerned that the country is unified: “The ship of state is safe” (I.8).

 Document poems by line number; document plays by Act, Scene, and Line; document short stories by page number.

 When the quotation is followed by the parenthetical documentation, place periods and commas after the parenthesis. If the quote contains a question mark or exclamation point, it remains before the quotation marks, but a period (or comma) is still placed after the parenthesis.

Sammy asks, “Who is that customer?” (36).

Granny Weatherall says, “Nonsense” (177).

When the quotation marks are not followed by the parenthesis, then commas and periods go before the quotation mark.

 Use single quotation marks to quote a quotation within a quotation.

 Use slashes ( / ) to indicate the end of a line of poetry when you run the lines together in your own writing: “My young brother’s house is filled / I go there to sing / We have not spoken of you/ but our songs are sad” (lines 13-16).

Papers should be free of grammatical, mechanical, and punctuation errors: avoid comma splices, fragments, fused sentences; make sure subject/verb and noun/pronoun agree in number; use correct spelling; follow conventions of punctuation and capitalization (especially apostrophes).